Who will steal your heart this summer?

This Valentine’s Day, commit to spreading love around the world with GLA.

10 Service Projects with Heart - $300 Service Grants

From now until February 28, GLA will award $300 Service Grants to motivated, passionate teens who enroll in ten of our sweetest, most impactful 14-day programs. Redeem your Service Grant when you enroll by February 28.

TO REDEEM: From the list, choose the community you'd like to work with this summer and enter the code GLAHEARTS when you apply for enrollment. Deadline to enroll with this Service Grant is February 28, 2017.

TERMS & CONDITIONS: This Service Grant cannot be combined with other awards or offers, except need-based scholarships, in which case the combined awarded amount may not exceed 30% of total tuition.

1. Argentina: Land of Discovery™

“The future belongs to the few of us still willing to get our hands dirty.” Work alongside locals to build community centers, homes and permaculture gardens for under-resourced communities in the Buenos Aires province.

Who will steal your heart in Argentina?

The kids, who’ll weave you friendship bracelets but beat you at soccer.

2. China: One Nation, Two Worlds™

Temple here is more than just a place of worship—it’s where people of all religions gather, a place for community games, meals and learning. Work alongside Shaxi residents to restore this cultural relic, and visit a kindergarten where you’ll get to make crafts and play with the local children.

Who will steal your heart in China? Warm locals who enjoy life at a slower pace in the rural Southwest of China, and shy kindergarteners. Break out the games, though, and their true personalities will shine.

3. Costa Rica: Spanish Service Adventure

You’ll be protecting the cloud forest—a unique land feature of Costa Rica that’s as lush and ethereal as its name indicates. Work with a grassroots organization that helps families involved in coffee production switch from harmful, conventional farming practices to sustainable and organic.

Who will steal your heart in Costa Rica? Your mentors and the local families you work with, who all speak Spanish slowly and patiently for you and encourage your inner activist to blossom.

4. Ghana: Building Healthy Villages™

There’s no way to sugarcoat this—you’ll be building a new toilet facility for this community, from start to finish. Before you wrinkle your nose, consider its significance: If there’s one project with immediate impact on this list, this is it. Provide an incredibly valuable resource for the whole community that preserves both health and human dignity.

Who will steal your heart in Ghana? Get ready for endless hugs and high-fives! Everyone from the children to the loving “Mamas” at Home Base will have you smitten with Africa.

5. Guatemala: Children of the Maya™

Take your spot—at the front of the classroom! If you’re great with kids or dream of being a teacher, Xela, Guatemala, welcomes you! Work on lesson plans with your peers and think of creative ways to deliver English language learning… and play with 500 students at recess.

Who will steal your heart in Guatemala? Hundreds of adorable kids constantly vying for your attention. If you’re an aspiring teacher or just a lover of fun, consider yourself signed, sealed and delivered.

6. India: Service Through the Lens™

Are you your family’s historian? The keeper of stories who can’t ever seem to put your camera down? You’ll find no shortage of stories to capture and tell in Dharamsala, a Himalayan town where Indian and Tibetan cultures meet.

Who will steal your heart in Dharamsala? In addition to exploring India with your camera, you’ll also tutor at an after-school camp. Fall in love with your students, and their dreams of breaking out of the slums to become doctors and human rights lawyers.

7. Peru: Amazon Service Adventure

This community is super-remote, which means external support is hard to come by (and you get to experience the true Amazon Rainforest). You’ll support development projects, some that were started by GLA students in past summers and continue to be a sustaining part of the community.

Who will steal your heart in the Amazon? Cuddly sloths, monkeys and jungle amphibians are some of the creatures you’ll have heart-eyes for if you’re a nature lover.

8. Peru: Service in the Sacred Valley

Breathe in the mountain air. You’ve arrived in the Andes, the gateway to Machu Picchu. You’ll help build a campus greenhouse that helps the school provide better nutrition to its students, and grow fresh food year-round in a high-altitude environment.

9. Spain: Spanish Service Adventure

Learn about immigration issues in Europe, one of the biggest global debates of our time. Shadow a local organization whose objective is to integrate immigrants to Spain through the promotion of intercultural understanding. You’ll run a summer camp for youth that cultivates values of solidarity, universal education and respect towards diversity.

Who will steal your heart in Spain? The diverse community of Valencia, which hails from all over Europe and the world, but still manages to dance and sing at Spain’s summertime festivals in total harmony.

10. Tanzania: Heart and Soul of Africa

You are loved. You are powerful. You are a force to be reckoned with. If you’ve ever doubted any of these things, we invite you to stand in front of the classroom in Tanzania and listen to the voices of students who chant for you to teach them.

Who will steal your heart in Tanzania? We don’t call this program “heart and soul” for nothing. Everyone in Tanzania will likely steal your heart—from your loving host family, to your enthusiastic students, to the legendary “Mama Simba” who runs Home Base.

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GLA Flagship Programs

Our 21-day Flagship programs provide the ideal amount of time to satisfy every dimension of the GLA Experience.

Although many of the same objectives can be achieved on shorter programs, students and parents report that three weeks is the optimal time to develop lifelong friendships with local people and fellow students, to make a greater impact on the community, to fully immerse themselves in a culture, and to explore different facets of the host country.